In addition to the emotion contained before the first day of school for our little ones, the beginning of the school year also brings with it fun and almost surreal moments between the parents of the students (the WhatsApp groups of the school go a long way), and between parents and teachers.
A good example of this is the viral thread shared on Twitter by a mother, in which she narrates the curious and hilarious meeting between the parents of three-year-old students and their teacher where they discuss school lunches.
Yesterday we had the 3 year old #back to school meeting.
🍐Snack Theme:
👩🏽🏫-The L and V, fruit; M and J, sandwich; dairy Wednesday.
👩🏽-Hello, Eva, I’m Martin’s mom. A doubt, the sandwich… of what?
👩🏽🏫-Whatever you want: French omelette, chicken, cheese… whatever you like.– Mamadrastra💚💙 (@Mamadrastras) September 6, 2022
👩🏽-Any special bread? Bar, sandwich…
👩🏽🏫-No, whatever you want. We say sandwich, but it can be a sandwich if you prefer.
👩🏽-Can it be fajita bread?
👩🏽🏫-Eh… yes, yes, of course. No problem.– Mamadrastra💚💙 (@Mamadrastras) September 6, 2022
👩🏻🦰-Hi, Eva, I’m Laia’s mom. Nice to meet you. Can you take a cheese sandwich on dairy day?
👩🏽🏫-🧐…In principle, the idea is that they bring milk, fresh cheese, cottage cheese… yoghurts… so that they also learn the different dairy products.
👩🏻🦰-That’s why a cheese sandwich.– Mamadrastra💚💙 (@Mamadrastras) September 6, 2022
👩🏾-But I understand that it would be the M and J because, although it’s cheese, it’s a sandwich, right? Well, I’m Hugo’s mom. Hello!
👩-Hello, I’m Dani’s mom. We don’t eat dairy at home. Can it be vegetable drink, tofu…?
👩🏽🏫-Yes, of course
👩-Thank you, Eve. I thought so, but to be confirmed…– Mamadrastra💚💙 (@Mamadrastras) September 6, 2022
👩🏽🏫- Everything is indicative. The idea is to coordinate and avoid conflicts
👩🏽🦰-No, well, I think our intention is not to create a conflict, but it is not clear, I think, about the sandwiches and the cheese.– Mamadrastra💚💙 (@Mamadrastras) September 6, 2022
👩🏽🏫-No, claro que no, conflictos entre los niños.
👩🏽🦰-Es que claro, el queso es lácteo y choca con el bocadillo porque si lo pones de queso, resulta que M, X y J comen bocadillo…, o lácteo, según se mire, los three días.. And he bocadillo es de queso, I digo. Solo was a comment.— Mamadrastra💚💙 (@Mamadrastras) September 6, 2022
(Meanwhile, the instagrammer mother, who turns out to be Mateo’s mom, telling the next door, who was clearly fed up with life, how she makes homemade oatmeal bread sandwiches.
👩🦰-Put an egg, a few tablespoons of oatmeal… And the micro) pic.twitter.com/gQqoh3ONIJ
– Mamadrastra💚💙 (@Mamadrastras) September 6, 2022
👩🏽🏫- Yes, yes, it has been good for us. We had not fallen into that, thank you very much. Well, that’s what you want.
👩-One question, do the sandwiches have to be made? I say this because Daniela is very textured and as soon as the bread gets a little wet, she no longer eats it.– Mamadrastra💚💙 (@Mamadrastras) September 6, 2022
👩🏽🏫- Eh… We don’t do them. They have to bring them from home. By the way, I know that it is not necessary, but we recommend that you do not bring nuts to avoid choking.
👩- So bread with seeds right? It is what we eat at home.– Mamadrastra💚💙 (@Mamadrastras) September 6, 2022
👩🏽🏫- Yes, let’s see, whole nuts: walnuts, hazelnuts…
hello! Excuse me, I’m Mateo’s mother. The problem with nuts is that they are hard, but you can put a bread with almond flour perfectly. I make bread for Mateo and put chopped nuts on it.– Mamadrastra💚💙 (@Mamadrastras) September 6, 2022
…or I’ll make him a bread with almond flour. Come on, no problem. I understand that there is no problem in bringing a sandwich that has chopped nuts or almond flour.
– Mamadrastra💚💙 (@Mamadrastras) September 6, 2022
👩🏽🏫- No, yes… Well, let’s see, actually we also say it to avoid accidentally giving it to other children who may be allergic to nuts. At these ages, even if we tell them not to share food, it is difficult to control everything.
– Mamadrastra💚💙 (@Mamadrastras) September 6, 2022
👩🏽🦰-Well, but that can happen with everything. If you are allergic to milk protein or eggs and they give you an omelette sandwich…
👩🏽🏫- Yes, well, it is important that you tell us if there is any allergy, although you have already put it on the registration, but to be more careful.– Mamadrastra💚💙 (@Mamadrastras) September 6, 2022
👩🏽🏫- No? Well, we continue…
👨🏾🦲-Hello, Eva, I’m listening to you. You see, it’s just that my daughter still eats mashed potatoes. For fruit days, we can put crushed fruit in it, but how do we do it with sandwiches?– Mamadrastra💚💙 (@Mamadrastras) September 6, 2022
pic.twitter.com/gvdm06GcmI
— Mamadrastra💚💙 (@Mamadrastras) September 6, 2022
Nos ha tocado una classe maravillosa.
Happy #VueltaAlCole, professor!
— Mamadrastra💚💙 (@Mamadrastras) September 6, 2022
Reality surpasses fiction
I confess that I couldn’t stop laughing as I read this mother’s messages because, as surreal as it may seem, I have experienced similar situations with my children .
And it is that with three children in different courses and academic levels and 20 “back to school” behind me, there are many anecdotal conversations that I have had around mid-morning lunch, the type of backpack that children have to carry, homework, school supplies, end-of-course costume…
But judging by the response to the Twitter thread, I’m not the only mother who claims to have been through a similar situation:
I remember my eldest’s childhood start meeting:
👩🏻 my son doesn’t eat solid food. What can he have for lunch on fruit day?
👩🏫 Does your child eat cookies?
👩🏻 Yes, of course
👩🏫 Then your son eats solid, so on fruit day he brings fruit.– VSC (@vanesa_sese) September 6, 2022
And you will see the wasap group, many will be first timers, it will give you many threads
– Here I am (@AquImYo6) September 6, 2022
The day of the meeting they said Lu and Mi fruit Ma Y Ju sandwich and the VI whatever you want except pastries. Buah, what a mess for a mother who doesn’t even put her juice and her sandwich on her. Teacher, only water, juices contain a lot of sugar, I am your mother and I will bring you juice. teacher 👇
– 👪Jurdy1985🕹️🎮🖥️💄👠🐶🏖️🗼📖🎬 (@jurdy1985) September 7, 2022
It is as is!!! I could make a thread of more than 30 messages and doubts to my phrase: everyone has to bring 2 complete changes and those who do not wear a diaper, spare shoes. Almost 40 minutes of questions and doubts about this we had in the meeting…
– teacher 0-3 (@ teacher0_3) September 7, 2022
Hahahaha I remember 100 Tweets in my parents’ chat the day the teacher said that they had to bring a short-sleeved white shirt for the field trip.
– Serezade (@serez2015) September 7, 2022
Wait for the prom to come.
– Carmen Matarán (@Casaura) September 6, 2022
Leaving aside the fun of the moment, it seems to me in a certain way normal that parents of children who start school for the first time have doubts; especially if they are first timers.
With the first child, any “first time” is extremely special and we experience it with a mix of excitement, joy, fear, uncertainty and doubt. But if there is a unique moment above any other, I would dare to say that it is the beginning of school.
I understand that for teachers, our children are just another student. But for parents it is an extremely complex moment (especially if they have not previously attended nursery school), and knowing everything that happens in the classroom is reassuring.
That said, it is true that some questions may result from common sense, but there are as many realities as there are families!
School lunches or freedom of choice?
Now, if we focus on the topic of debate, school lunches, we see on Twitter that opinions are divided.
On the one hand, there are parents who believe that it is good and necessary that the school establishes some eating guidelines for mid-morning lunches, in order to avoid conflicts and comparisons between students, as well as to help children in the acquisition of good eating habits.
But on the other hand, there are many families who maintain that this decision should be personal , and allow each parent to decide what their child has for lunch.
Personally, I don’t think it’s a bad idea for the school to offer some guidelines for children’s lunches, not so much to avoid comparisons between what one carries and another (because when they go out to the park in the afternoon they will experience that situation), but as support for families and one more aspect on which to educate .
Thus, for example, on the day that it is dairy, you can take advantage of the moment to talk to the children about milk and its derivatives, its nutritional properties, foods that contain calcium… You can also talk to them about allergies to dairy proteins. milk, a very common allergy among children (perhaps they even have a classmate with this condition) and with which we should all be aware.
Likewise, by having recommendations for specific food groups, some of these school menus prevent (at least in part) children from consuming processed foods, saturated fats and sweets, instead encouraging the consumption of fruits, dairy products and cereals.
Finally, I think that these types of menus can also be useful to guide families when preparing the children’s lunch , thus avoiding monotony due to lack of ideas.
In any case, I think the school lunch guide should be just that, a guide. That is to say, a series of recommendations that make it easier for families to feed their children , but in no case an imposition.
And you, do you also have a school lunch menu? What do you think of the idea? Have you felt identified with the viral thread?
